United Nations
by ArixaBell
Summary: United Nations, a popular MMORPG where the characters are nations. New players Alfred and Matthew have fun running countries and fighting monsters as America and Canada, but they soon learn the game's cheerful world holds some dark secrets. Eventual USUK
1. Chapter 1

_United Nations is a popular MMORPG where the characters are nations. New players Alfred and Matthew have fun running countries and fighting monsters as their characters, America and Canada, but they soon learn the game's bright, cheerful world holds some dark secrets. Eventual USUK._

_Inspired by .hack, obviously. XD I did borrow the bit from .hack/Legend of the Twilight where the main characters win their avatars in a contest, but hey, it was the easiest way to get a couple of newbies such important characters. _

_Disclaimer: Hetalia's not mine._

* * *

><p>"Is it ready?" Alfred was practically bouncing as he peered over his twin brother's shoulder, watching him fiddle with the helmet-like devices he had plugged into the computers.<p>

"I think so." Matthew turned one over in his hands, poking at it. "I guess we'll find out."

"Awesome!" Alfred picked up the game box, along with the codes that had been his prize. He had never won anything before! Filling out every contest form he ran across in every store had finally paid off. He plucked the game's manual out, studying the artwork featuring a handsome warrior and scantily clad woman wielding swords in the midst of a modern city. "United Nations," he recited. Currently the most popular MMORPG, they had been eager to play for the longest time, but had been discouraged by the lack of interesting characters available. Until now.

"Hand me the game disc. I'll get it set up."

"Sure." Alfred handed it over, then plopped down on the floor to flip through the manual. "'You are one of the nations of the world! It is up to you to keep your country running smoothly, whether it's paperwork' – Yeah, that sounds exciting – 'or fighting off hordes of invading monsters' – Now that's more like it!"

Matthew hummed in agreement as he watched the loading bar.

Alfred lost interest in the text, flipping through to look at the artwork. The characters looked like they came from a regular old medieval fantasy game, which was odd considering the game took place in modern times. Oh well.

Nations were no longer the only characters, they knew. After the game had taken off in popularity, it had become apparent that a game with finite characters would not work out well, and so states, provinces, even cities started becoming available characters. Hence the twins' lack of interest. Their young cousin Peter had been playing for a couple years, and his character was a ridiculous metal fort that claimed to be a sovereign state! No thank you, they wanted to be somebody interesting. By now they would probably be lucky to play as a park or a cave.

But then Alfred had won a drawing, his prize a set of codes that would allow them to create country characters and name them America and Canada. He had waited no time before calling Peter to brag! They got to be two of the best countries in the world!

Alfred continued to idly flip through the manual while he waited, humming to himself. "What class do you think you'll be? What's a good class for Canada?" Unable to choose, they had held a mini drawing to decide who would play which character.

"I don't know." Matthew was still working intently on getting the game in working order.

"I don't know, either. We'll decide when we get going!"

"Mm."

A short time later, Matthew finally made a pleased sound, indicating the waiting process was over. Alfred bounded to his seat, grabbing for the helmet device. "Okay! What do I do?"

"Didn't you read the instructions?"

"Sort of."

They went over a brief lesson in gameplay, then took their places at their computers and settled the helmets on. Alfred blinked in surprise at the screen that popped up around him, displaying the image from the cover of the game box, only surrounding him in 3D. "Awesome..." He clicked through the boring introductory text, not pausing to read until he reached character creation. Grinning, Alfred selected 'male' and 'nation'. When prompted to name his character, he typed in 'America', after which he had to input his code. Success! He now had a nation. "Okay, class, class..." Impatient to get started, Alfred scrolled through the options. "Mage, hunter, summoner, gunner... oh! I like that." It was the only thing that didn't sound out of place. Grinning, Alfred made his selection. He was definitely okay with shooting things!

In the character customization screen, Alfred got to work bringing his character to life. He went with tall and blond, somewhat muscular but not overly so, a friendly cheerful face. Over his plain clothes, Alfred gave him a leather jacket. And for the finishing touch, he decided his nation self would wear glasses, just like his real self.

Satisfied with his appearance, Alfred started the game. He could only gape in amazement as an entire world opened up before him.

* * *

><p>Alfred—America—gazed around in wonder. He wouldn't have guessed he was in a game, the city he stood in seemed so real! It even <em>felt<em> real, he could swear he felt the breeze that ruffled his hair, the ground beneath his feet. He stomped a few times just to check, grinning. "Well! Look at me, I am a nation." A pair of belts crisscrossed his hips, a holster at each hip housing a nice big handgun. "A badass nation." He tugged them out, twirling the guns around, which would surely cause a disaster were he to try that in real life. "Awesome." He looked around at the city, at the people who wandered around. "Uh, now what?"

He heard a small _ping_ sound, and an envelope icon popped up right in front of his eyes. "Oh, mail." America reached out to poke the icon, and words took its place. "Huh. Blah blah, meet your boss, he will give you your first mission..." Hopefully it would be one of the missions that involved killing things, rather than talking or paperwork or whatever.

Someone approached America—another player? NPC? He wasn't sure how to tell the difference yet—looking nervous, moving with the aid of some sort of walking stick. He had longish blond hair, with goggles nestled onto the curls, glasses, and a long beige coat with belts crisscrossing it. _Always with the excess belts. This is a modern RPG all right... _But he was rather handsome, and America wondered-

"Is that you?" the other person said.

"Oh!" America grinned. "Matt. Er, Canada. Hey! You used the same face as me!"

Canada peered closer, his own smile falling. "I think I did. I guess we have to be twins in the game, too."

"I guess so." _Oh geez, I was checking him out! I checked out my brother!_ "Well, uh." America cleared his throat. "I'm a gunner!"

"I see that. Um, I'm a cleric." He gestured with the walking stick. Oh, a magical staff.

"Oh man..." America chuckled.

"What?"

"You went with the lamest class!"

Canada rolled his eyes. "We'll see how lame I am when I'm healing and reviving your ass."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Oh, hold on." Canada made a button-pushing gesture, apparently checking his own email. "Ah, we're supposed to meet our bosses. Each one of us has a boss, and he'll be the one who gives us missions. Or she, I suppose."

"Beginner missions will probably be boring..." America looked around at the surrounding city again. He thought back to the crash course in controls, and brought up the map. "If we take the train to Station D, we can explore the... Mortuary Fields!"

Canada took a step back, clutching his staff close to his chest. "That does not sound like a good place for us to go, we're level one! Let's go find our bosses."

"Come on, Matt! I just want to explore a little, pleeease?"

His brother rolled his eyes again. "I hate it when you do that..."

Grinning, America grabbed his arm, tugging him toward the train station. This was going to be fun!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Hetalia's not mine.

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><p>Matthew—now Canada—trailed along nervously behind his brother. Why did he let himself be dragged around? He didn't want to be there! It was clearly not a location beginners should be. At first glance, it just looked like a wide open pasture, all gently waving grass and delicate flowers. But then one noticed the monsters roaming around, and they definitely did not look like newbie-friendly beasts. He clutched his staff close, feeling comforted in his healing spell (yes, spell, he <em>was<em> level one still, after all) being just a button click away.

"You know..." Canada tried once again. "If you're so keen on fighting things without playing the game properly, there's a tomb right outside of town that has low-level monsters."

"We'll never level up that way!" America scoffed.

"We should find somebody who's a high level to grind with us, then."

"Don't be ridiculous!"

"I bet Peter would help. After a couple years, he must be-"

"I'm not asking Peter for help!"

He really was ridiculous. Canada rolled his eyes and fell silent as he followed carefully, eyes darting all over.

He came to a stop with a frown. That shape that was lumbering closer. That looked like... "Hey, Al, I think you're getting too close to a troll."

"Huh?" America looked up from his contemplation of his new guns. "Oh."

"Run!"

"Why? Fighting's why we're here!" He yanked both of his guns out with a cheerful hoot, posing.

"You're an idiot! It's a _troll_!"

"That experience is mine!" America fired several rounds into the beast, not hindering its approach in the slightest. Now that they were in range, it was speeding up, hurrying toward them.

"Do you have extra ammo?" Canada shuffled backward.

"Nope! Unlimited." He fired again. "Um..."

The troll was twice as tall as them, its skin brownish gray, body covered in knotted muscles, and its face a hideous, piglike thing with a big tusked mouth. It lifted a clawed hand as it approached America.

"Run!" Canada scurried back, heart racing. He covered his eyes as the hand slashed down, and he heard his brother shout, heard the sound of tearing cloth and flesh, the thud of a body hitting the ground. "Oh god..." He forced himself to open his eyes and hurry to his fallen brother's side. "Al...?"

He was sprawled on his back, horribly realistic bleeding gashes in his chest. "Oww..."

Canada swallowed, eyes wide. "You can _feel_ that?"

"Of course not." He rubbed his head with a groan. "God, what an awful game _that_ would be."

"Oh."

"I fell out of my chair."

"Oh... Well, uh, here." Canada cast his one and only healing spell. A green glow wafted out of his staff, coiling onto America as the wounds closed. "There. How's that?"

"Better." With his brother's help, America got to his feet. "Didn't restore all my HP, but definitely better."

"Good. You—ack! Move!"

"Wh-" America didn't even have time to turn before the troll was on him again, roaring as it slashed out with its claws again. Canada was flung aside, his HP depleting significantly, and he hit the ground with an instinctive grunt. Glancing down at himself, he saw wide scratches cut into his side. Though it didn't actually hurt, he felt phantom pain just from seeing it. He quickly healed himself.

"D-die, you stupid thing!" America fired more shots at the creature, but the slavering beast wasn't even slowed down. It struck him again, and he tumbled to the ground and lay still.

"Al...?" Canada braved the troll and edged closer. He only had enough magic left to cast his spell once more, so he did so, but America didn't even twitch. "Oh..." He swallowed. It was starting to dawn on him that he had just witnessed his brother's death.

Sure enough, America's body vanished. Canada had wasted his last healing spell.

And now he was all alone in a dangerous zone, with a pissed off troll whose level was probably in the triple digits if that were possible.

Canada turned to run, but the sound of an enraged roar and thunderous footsteps grew rapidly nearer behind him. A large shadow fell over him. And then the clawed hands lashed out again, and Canada went crashing to the ground with a yelp. He tried to roll over, but found himself paralyzed, face pressed into the grass he could swear smelled grassy. He couldn't even see what damage had been done to him. His HP was depleted.

_You idiot..._ was the last thing he thought before his vision faded.

* * *

><p>The world came back into focus, and Canada found himself on his back, staring into the sky. A few puffy clouds floated lazily past. As he sat up and gazed around at the surrounding buildings, he realized he was back in the starting city.<p>

Canada got to his feet, dusting himself off out of habit. He was in a city square, surrounding by steps on which other players sat and chatted. Near the center of the square was a large fountain, which also seemed to be a gathering spot.

"Oh hey, you did die!" America. And he sounded much too cheerful about it.

"Thanks for the concern..." Canada turned to glare at him.

"Well, I was worried I'd have to go back there and rescue you..."

It actually was kind of touching, in America's own special way of being nice.

"Well, I died. And now we are going to go and meet our bosses and play the game like we're supposed to."

"Heh..." America scratched his head, looking sheepish. "Yeah. I guess so."

"Oh, wow!"

Canada turned toward the voice, spotting a dark-haired girl with a bow slung across her back staring at them with wide eyes. "Um, hello."

"You two are countries!" She grinned. "And noobs! How'd you manage that?"

America's cheerful smile fell. "How did you know who we are?" He brightened back up rather quickly. "Are we famous already?"

"Wow, you guys _are_ noobs." The girl giggled. "If you right-click on someone, you can see who they are."

"Oh..." Canada wondered how they had missed that. He clicked on the girl, and glowing text appeared over her head for a moment before fading away. _Name: Veracruz. Race: City. Class: Hunter. Level: 43._

"Cool!" America swiveled around, peering at different players, presumably testing out this newfound ability. Canada wondered if he should just leave him there—after all, they were different countries, their bosses and missions would probably be in different places. He wasn't sure what city they were supposed to be in, but he doubted it was in Canada, and was feeling kind of eager to get to his own land.

"Oh hey!" America yanked on his sleeve. "Over there, look at him!"

"Hm?" Canada glanced over at the blond fellow in green America was pointing to. He clicked on the man. _Name: England. Race: Nation. Class: Mage. Level: 69._ "Oh, yeah, another nation!"

America giggled. "Look at his level!"

Canada figured he should have known. "Idiot..."

England seemed to notice the brothers, and started to walk toward them. He didn't look unhappy, but he didn't look friendly and welcoming, either. "You must be the new nations."

"That's us!" America grinned at him. "Man, you even sound British."

"I am British. You got the email, didn't you?"

"Email?" The brothers exchanged a glance, shrugging. "Nope."

England sighed. Canada found his eyes drawn to the fellow's ridiculous eyebrows. Who would choose that feature for their character? "Ah well. There is a meeting of nations in an hour."

"Oh, cool!" America nudged Canada. "Did you hear that?"

"I heard..." Canada took a step away from him. "Where is it?"

England gestured, and the map opened up between them. "There." He pointed to a building, and a glowing red circle appeared. "Will you be able to make it?"

"Oh, sure! We won't have to go to dinner for another few hours."

"Good." His mouth finally twitched into a smile. "It's been a long time since we've had new nations. Everyone will be excited to meet you."


	3. Chapter 3

_Haha... oops. How did so much time pass? Stupid real life.  
><em>

_Disclaimer: Hetalia's not mine._

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><p>As Canada walked into the town square that served as the nations' meeting place, he grew more and more excited, certain that for once he would be more popular than his brother. After all, he figured, who cared about having a new gunner around? It was a popular class people chose because it looked cool. His attacks weren't as powerful as a melee fighter, and he had nothing else to offer, except attacking from afar while everyone else got their butts kicked.<p>

Healers, though, were a class everyone needed, even if they made fun of them. And because nobody wanted to _be_ a healer, he could very well be one of the only clerics among the nations! Everyone would want him to join with them.

He had become so certain of this, that the disappointment almost felt like a physical blow when he spotted a pair of young men – auburn haired, one scowling, the other with his eyes shut for some reason – wielding cleric staffs. Well... two still wasn't a lot. Hopefully he would still be popular. He looked into the other clerics' stats, blinking in surprise. North Italy and South Italy? How did _that_ happen? Did other countries get split up to make more characters? Did America have a Southern gent counterpart somewhere?

Canada looked around at the others strolling in or milling about. In turn, they noticed him, staring at the new nation with what looked like mostly curiosity. Every class was represented: monks, rogues, berserkers, summoners, several warriors with huge swords, and one with what looked like a metal pipe for some reason... Canada chose a polite-looking warrior to approach. The warrior's stats identified him as Japan.

"Hello." Canada smiled inwardly. In real life, he was much too shy to just walk up to people and talk to them. Most of his friends were online-only. At least the game would give them some semblance of realism.

Japan bowed politely. "Hello. So you are the new Canada."

"That's right. So I was-"

"Hey!" America squeezed between them, grabbing Japan's hand to enthusiastically shake.

Canada rolled his eyes, smiling weakly at Japan's silent cry for help. He backed away as his brother hogged his potential new friend, looking around for somebody America wouldn't be interested in.

He was about to approach the large fellow with the pipe when an arm draped around his shoulder. Canada glanced over at the friendly long-haired blond, whose blue eyes seemed to sparkle. "Hello."

"Bonjour! Comment ça va?"

"O-oh!" Canada laughed nervously. "Um. Ça va bien. I've only recently started taking French in school. I suppose I should study more, now that it's one of my official languages. Oh, but you can't understand me, I don't know why-"

"Relax," the other nation said with a laugh. "I speak English just fine."

Unsurprisingly, his character turned out to be France, and he was a rogue. How many players were the same nationality as their character? Or maybe it was a phony accent. It _did_ sound kind of phony, so that was entirely possible. "Oh, okay."

"Your friend is quite friendly."

"My brother." Canada glanced over at America, who was still chatting and laughing with Japan, as well as a couple other Asian nations. "I think he's either going to unite the world in enthusiastic harmony, or bring about another World War."

"Ah. The Italies are brothers, too. They chose the same face entirely by accident, and it is a constant source of agitation for them. One of them, anyway. Was it the same for you?"

"It was an accident for us, too. Though we're twins in real life, so we're used to it."

"Twins? Really?" France managed to lean closer. "Interesting."

Canada coughed. "Are you really French?"

"As a matter of fact I am!"

Yeah right. Canada had no idea about the etiquette of discussing their personal lives during the game's official business, so he refrained from asking further questions. Instead he resumed watching the gathering nations.

"He's pretty," Canada noted, watching a passing berserker. He had delicate features, curly brown hair, and wore lots of tight leather. The large axe seemed out of place with him.

"He is, isn't he?" France chuckled. "That's Hungary."

"Hungary? Is he really Hungarian?"

"Yes she is."

Canada blinked. "What? She?" He looked closer, but the outfit left nothing to the imagination, and that figure was definitely male.

"Oh yes, female player."

"Is that common?"

"You'd be surprised. But not too common among the nations. I can't think of any besides her. And she does have a female alt when she's in the mood."

"Oh." Canada hadn't even considered choosing a female character. He glanced down at himself and wondered what _that_ would be like in such a realistic game.

He suddenly found himself wanting to find a private area and take off his clothes to see just how realistic the game was.

Then he shook his head, wondering what had gotten into him.

"Picturing yourself with knockers?"

"What? No!" Canada stepped away, crossing his arms over his chest.

"She has a boyfriend who also plays." France gestured toward Hungary. "It makes things a bit awkward for him."

"I can imagine."

"We do have our suspicions about China," France mused, glancing toward a petite Asian. "But he insists he is male in real life."

"Is he bothering you?" America strode closer. Even in his new avatar, his Unnecessary Overprotective Brother look was unmistakable.

"We're just talking," Canada said. He eyed France, hoping the handsy manner was just a French thing.

"That's right!" France said.

"Okay, everyone seems to be here," a tall fellow with severely slicked back hair said. Germany, a warrior. "I guess we should get started."

* * *

><p>Seeing that his brother seemed unmolested, America looked around to find Japan again, but the other nation seemed to have disappeared in the crowd. Oh well, their meeting seemed to be starting. How boring. This was supposed to be a fun game, not a job.<p>

"I'll start," Germany said once it seemed he had everyone's attention. "The German economy seems to be improving. The hackers were caught and dealt with. And several very expensive money sink items have been created to help get rid of some of the excess ill-gotten loot."

"They're great!" China interrupted. "I've got two." He glanced around when eyes started turning his way. "I didn't mean I used ill-gotten loot to buy them..."

Germany cleared his throat. "Anybody else?"

"My little problem seems to have improved," said the jerk who had been getting too close to Canada. France. Great. "There are stricter rules in place regarding doing... things in public, where any underage player can be walking by. And there are new adult-only areas."

England eyed him. "In other words, you've created brothels."

"If that's what you want to call it."

A scruffy man in old fashioned Roman-looking armor popped up. "Do these places require real money to get in?"

England was quick to interrupt. "The pirates off my coast have been taken care of."

"Excellent," Germany said, nodding. "And what about the orc army that was seen heading for China?"

"No problem," China said. "They were ugly."

"And the one that was nearing Russia?"

"They won't be doing that again," the creepy tall nation said with a smile.

"The army has been defeated, then?"

"No..."

Orc armies! That sounded a lot more fun than standing around talking. And... pirates! America scooted closer to England, eager to hear more about the pirate raids going on. Maybe he could help! Maybe something like that was going on in his country. Maybe he had cowboy towns being attacked by Indians! No, that wouldn't be considered politically correct. But hopefully cowboys would be involved somehow.

"You get pirates?" America said. "How do you fight them? That sounds awesome."

"It is rather fun." England continued to focus on the nation who was currently speaking.

"Can I help?"

"Don't you have your own missions? What did your boss say?"

"I haven't seen him yet."

"What? Why not?"

"Well I was _going_ to, but you came along and told us to come to this meeting."

"Oh. Well you should go as soon as we finish. And you should pay attention."

"Can I see your place first?"

England coughed. "The pirates are gone."

"All right..."

"I think."

America perked up. "You think?"

"There was one ship unaccounted for, I assumed they ran away."

"Let's look for them!"

England smiled slightly. "You just want to put off seeing your boss."

"Yeah..."

"You can look for pirates with me, if you promise to get right to your own missions afterward. It might be easier if you level up some with me, anyway."

"Okay!" America grinned, turning back to the speaker. Denmark was talking enthusiastically about a dungeon in his country, so that was interesting enough to pay attention to for now.


End file.
